“Mohabat” Wins Ji.hlava’s Opus Bonum Award — SkimNews
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- Mohabat, directed by James Longley, won the Opus Bonum main award at the Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival on Saturday; the jury called the film “meticulously researched and exquisitely crafted.”
- Mohammad Sharif Hotak produced “Mohabat” with James Longley and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney; the documentary follows a 12-year-old boy named Mohabat whose father dies in a drone strike and who is taken to a city orphanage.
- Barbara Forever won the Testimonies main award; the jury called it a “compelling cinematic study” that breaks taboos around lesbian and female emancipation, aging and terminal illness, using experimental footage shot by protagonist Barbara Hammer herself over five decades.
- Brydie O’Connor said a woman from Texas who said she was not queer was “so moved” by “Barbara Forever” because her father was at the end of life; the woman said the film helped her understand what he meant by being at peace.
- On the Peaks of All the Beech Mountains won the Exprmntl.cz main award; the jury praised its political courage in recalling a dark chapter of contemporary history and denouncing ethnic cleansing during complex, painful historical moments.
- Trinh T. Minh-ha received the Contribution to World Cinema Award while preparing “The Undying Desert,” her first film set in the US; she described cinema as an experience for the whole body and urged viewers to approach it with an open mind beyond a narrow definition of a “good documentary.”
Why it matters: The Opus Bonum win gives James Longley, Mohammad Sharif Hotak and Alex Gibney a major distinction for portraying a 12-year-old boy whose father died in a drone strike. Two other main awards honored a film using Barbara Hammer’s self-shot footage across five decades and another confronting ethnic cleansing, extending festival recognition to empathy, political memory and formal craft.
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